El Diablo

just for sh!ts and giggles; if I contracted you to build me an identical machine and ship it to my front doorstep, what would you charge for the labor of love involved in one of these beautiful builds?

without the gpu block and/or another 90º angle that last tube going from the radiator for the reservoir just looks bad

Hmm. Maybe if you got a different top for the reservoir, with more ports - I know EK offer these - and ran the outlet from the front radiator straight down into the top of the reservoir?

Thar' she blows, laddies! All done, ready to crush some games!

that's legit af.

just for sh!ts and giggles; if I contracted you to build me an identical machine and ship it to my front doorstep, what would you charge for the labor of love involved in one of these beautiful builds?

Well, there's a few things to consider in this regard.

First of all, it took me eight months to finish it, motivated by the fact that it was for myself to use - it would probably be a bit more difficult for me to get motivated, when doing it for a commission.

Then there's the fact that shipping to the US from here would be a nightmare, and I wouldn't even recommend shipping a fully built PC at all, especially not a water cooled one across the Atlantic.

And finally, cost - someone on Twitter asked if I could send them a list of parts used, so I made the mistake of going on PCPartPicker at adding it all in, with prices and everything: https://pcpartpicker...ed/#view=P2nRBm- it's in Euros, so you'll need to convert to USD, but it ain't pretty.

I realize that was a lot of sh*t and no giggles - but that's the business.

El Diablo

I spent 5 grand under the hood of my car last Summer and I plan to spend another 6k this year on custom paint and cams.

if it's your hobby then the price is kind of irrelevant.

I understand the logistics are not necessarily realistic, I think I've asked you about this before. it's just that I really admire your vision and attention to detail when it comes to building these rigs. it seems like (if you wanted to, or had the motivation to take orders) you could easily turn this passion into a high-end boutique business for yourself. at the very least a side gig for which customers would surely pay you a premium.

That's actually less than I was expecting. My X99 build can't be that far off that now and I haven't even started assembling my loop yet.

Not sure if you did, but you need to change it to "Deutschland" to get the proper total (€4500). But yeah, it's an expensive hobby.

What're you fitting in yours?

Oh yeah, that'll do it. Christ.

The plan so far is 280mm up top, 240mm front (probably CE280/SE240 as you have, assuming there's enough clearance up top in my C70) with Bitspower GPU block and EKWB CPU block. Was originally looking at 5.25" bay reservoirs but now moving towards a conventional one.Clear hard piping now I've got a workshop space in the new house to get it all built. Probably Mayhems Pastel Sunset Yellow given the colour scheme of the rest of the system (black/grey/yellow). Was part-way through sleeving my spare set of PSU cables but by this point I've spent so much time with so little progress it'll be easier just to buy some.

Azazel

That's actually less than I was expecting. My X99 build can't be that far off that now and I haven't even started assembling my loop yet.

Not sure if you did, but you need to change it to "Deutschland" to get the proper total (€4500). But yeah, it's an expensive hobby.

What're you fitting in yours?

Oh yeah, that'll do it. Christ.

The plan so far is 280mm up top, 240mm front (probably CE280/SE240 as you have, assuming there's enough clearance up top in my C70) with Bitspower GPU block and EKWB CPU block. Was originally looking at 5.25" bay reservoirs but now moving towards a conventional one.
Clear hard piping now I've got a workshop space in the new house to get it all built. Probably Mayhems Pastel Sunset Yellow given the colour scheme of the rest of the system (black/grey/yellow). Was part-way through sleeving my spare set of PSU cables but by this point I've spent so much time with so little progress it'll be easier just to buy some.

Awesome, can't wait to see the result. Sleeving a PSU is about the most tedious thing you can do on a PC build, to the point of insanity. I had a dude in Iceland, named Mundi, do my cables for me. Just specified which PSU I had, and the desired length of the cables. Much better quality than the pre-sleeved sets you can purchase from the PSU manufacturers. Alternatively, you can also buy ATX extensions and the like, in the same quality. Plenty of companies around who offer such services - the ones I used were https://www.icemodz.eu/. Some of the pictures on there are drool-worthy.

El Diablo

yeah I was expecting someone to drop the Fast and Furious reference, at least.

you've got a handful markets (such as https://www.ibuypower.com) where people are trading in custom built rigs but honestly most of them are so terribly ugly and the 'interior design' aspect is fairly bland. they've started using LCD panels on the side of the cases in a vain attempt to add more flash. way over the top. Azazel on the other hand has a real talent for making his machines beautiful in their simplicity with such distinct yet understated styling cues. they're just so pleasant to look at.

Azazel

yeah I was expecting someone to drop the Fast and Furious reference, at least.

you've got a handful markets (such as https://www.ibuypower.com) where people are trading in custom built rigs but honestly most of them are so terribly ugly and the 'interior design' aspect is fairly bland. they've started using LCD panels on the side of the cases in a vain attempt to add more flash. way over the top. Azazel on the other hand has a real talent for making his machines beautiful in their simplicity with such distinct yet understated styling cues. they're just so pleasant to look at.

he'd give those guys a run for their money.
if he wanted to

Thanks for the kind words. If I lived in the US, there's certainly a market for it, but it's not that sought after here I don't think. And I'm quite happy with it being a hobby, and not a job - as soon as it became a chore, I'm certain I would not enjoy it as much.

HaRdSTyLe_83

(if you wanted to, or had the motivation to take orders) you could easily turn this passion into a high-end boutique business for yourself. at the very least a side gig for which customers would surely pay you a premium.

idk if there are that many people that would buy sutch a rig already built, most people would spend the cash on the second gpu instead of a water loop, at least to me (first time doing watercooling) its the time spent on it, and putting things together that can justify the 600$ spent on a watercooled cpu/gpu

ΣΓ

Custom stuff aside, aren't there any sites in your area that offer full assembly if you order parts from them? My PC was custom built by a forum member of the site I got the parts from and assembled by a guy that works for them for less than $50. Transporting fully assembled PCs may not be a good idea but maybe you could pick it up yourself.

I like computers and stuff and I could assemble one myself but I can't really be bothered to do it.

HaRdSTyLe_83

sure, there are alot of stores around that do that service of assembling, but not that many do custom loops, i could count by the fingers in my hand how many do that in here, the closest one to my house is more then 60km, a quick trip in my bike on the weekend, the other one i buy from is like 300+km but they ship it to me overnight

ΣΓ

I don't think it's worth going for a liquid cooled build like that if you can't do it yourself. I mean you're going to have to do some maintenance at some point and it sucks if you are clueless. I view it more as an aesthetic thing than a practical solution for cooling (taking price and maintenance in consideration).